Long Beach City Council to decide fate of company renting to pot clinic

LONG BEACH - A Signal Hill real estate investment company could lose its business license to operate an East Village property that city officials say is rented to a medical marijuana dispensary.

The Long Beach City Council will consider an appeal case today involving the 4th Street Collective, 745 E. 4th St.

Oceansider IV LLC manages the property, which has multiple business addresses that are vacant, except for the 4th Street Collective, according to the city's Department of Financial Management.

According to a memorandum, code enforcement officers have issued 47 administrative citations totaling $22,800 to Oceansider IV LLC since February last year, when council members banned medpot collectives of more than three persons following an appeals court decision that struck down Long Beach's short-lived regulations governing the cultivation and distribution of medicinal marijuana.

The city revoked the business license of Oceansider IV LLC on June 6. The company appealed the decision a week later, and the appeal was upheld in December.

Mark Malan, the managing member of Oceansiders IV LLC, in a letter appealing the decision, criticized the quality of witnesses used for the hearing, which he called a "kangaroo court."

Malan offered to cancel the 4th Street Collective's tenancy if the city indemnified the company from damages claimed, and pay the rent on the vacant space until a new tenant is secured.

Water submetering

Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal, who chairs the Environmental Committee, will recommend Tuesday that the City Council approve a recommendation to consider a water submetering ordinance to include in the triennial building code update.

Water officials seek submetering in new multifamily properties to manage Long Beach's future water supply.

Submetering would not be required in properties that were built before Jan. 1, 2014 - the date the new regulations would go into effect, if passed.

Gun buyback

Long Beach may hold a gun buyback event under a proposal to be heard Tuesday.

Councilman Steve Neal will request that City Manager Pat West work with Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell to look into creating and funding a gun buyback program.

Gun buybacks have been held by several cities across the country following a Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.

The last gun buyback in Long Beach was in 1999, according to the LBPD.